Anger at setback inspired Slipper

Motivated … James Slipper is determined to cement his place as a Wallabies starting prop. Photo: Getty Images

FLORENCE: James Slipper has been over-achieving since he made his debut against England three seasons ago, weighing six kilograms less than what he told officials.

It wasn't the prettiest of Test starts, as Slipper will tell you, but it prepared him well for the northern hemisphere challenge.

''It was a week after my 21st and at the time England had the best scrum in the world,'' Slipper said of his first appearance, made via the bench in Perth during the June internationals in 2010. ''It was probably one of the most scary moments of my life, getting put on in that game when our scrum was under the pump, just getting marched backwards … their front row all [weighed] over 125 kilograms and I ran out there at 107 kilograms, lying about my weight.''

At the time, the Gold Coast-raised prop was on an academy contract with Queensland. These days, Slipper weighs every gram of the ''113kg'' it promises in his match-day profile. But at 23, and with 32 Test caps, he is still the youngest of the Wallabies props.

''I've missed 10 [Tests] through injury but I hadn't ever been dropped until this year,'' Slipper said, referring to a lowlight in his achievement-studded run with the Wallabies. A versatile prop who plays at tight-head for Queensland but is preferred at loose-head in the green and gold, Slipper was dropped for the entire home series against Wales in June.

He had started against Scotland in Newcastle but was told, after the Wallabies' 9-6 loss in diabolical conditions, to do his homework at tight-head to win back his place.

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''I hated not having the jersey, it really pissed me off,'' he said from Florence during the week after being named on the bench against Italy. ''I ended up having that three weeks off, still training with the squad but not playing and I ended up going back and playing for the Reds and probably played the best footy I had all year. I definitely came back stronger after those June Tests and I think more hungry to get back in the team, that was in the back of my mind.''

Slipper has not missed a Test since and is now concentrating on making the case for a regular starting spot. ''I definitely want to be a starting prop, I got to start against the All Blacks in that last game in Brisbane … I actually got to watch their haka then go and play, instead of sit down,'' he said.

''It's important to keep both positions up to scratch - as I'm a tight-head for the Reds I need to stick with that - but we've got a fair few tight-heads in the Wallabies. Personally it's just about improving both and when that opportunity comes to start, take it and don't let it go.''

Despite missing the games against Wales in Australia, Slipper knows what the Wallabies will be up against in Cardiff. He started against the Welsh in the World Cup bronze medal match and met them again a month later at the Millennium Stadium. But it is the 2010 spring tour, Slipper's first encounter with the Welsh, that stands apart in his memory.

''It was a rainy day and our backs were getting talked up. Kurtley [Beale] was playing fullback and all our backs were the talk of the town, so they just opened up the roof and we played in the rain,'' he said. ''I was furious, I couldn't believe it. They had a roof and they opened it just to slow our backs down.''

Coach Warren Gatland has added an expansive element to their game since then, used to great effect at the World Cup and this year's Six Nations. The series in Australia and the autumn internationals have been a spectacular come down for a team described as the most ''southern hemisphere-like'' of the forward-heavy northern Test sides.

''They're going to be good, we know that, they're obviously not going too well at the moment but they're the type of team when they get the crowd behind them, it's pretty special,'' Slipper said. ''[The stadium] is one of the best stadiums in the world.